How to Spend a Weekend in Williamsburg with a Toddler

My summer has been insane with work travel. August is usually tough for me, so we took some time in September to do a little weekend in Williamsburg, VA. Williamsburg is amazing in the fall, it’s a perfect time to go. There is still tons to do (even with a toddler), but it’s not crazy hot. This post is about how to spend your next weekend in Williamsburg with a toddler.

A Weekend in Williamsburg: a Complete Family Guide

Dan and I went to college in Virginia Beach so this part of Virginia is almost like home to us. It’s always nice to get back and make new memories with Aiden. He had so much fun, I think for him, each day was better than the last.

It takes about two hours to get to Williamsburg from where we live. We left a little before Aiden’s nap time which worked well because Aiden was ready for an afternoon in historic Colonial Williamsburg and we missed the heavy commuter traffic between Northern Virginia and Williamsburg. Once we got to Williamsburg we checked into our hotel which was only a few miles away from Colonial Williamsburg.

Day 1: Colonial Williamsburg

We skipped the welcome center and parked right down town and walked down the Duke of Gloucester Street. Since it is still summer season there were lots of historic reenacters. Aiden called them ghosts and he loved interacting with them. They are really great with kids. We didn’t spend a ton of time there, but we did get to see them shoot of canons and the Fife and Drums March. We grabbed dinner at Chowning’s Tavern which was excellent. They had musicians which Aiden loved and they played an Irish jig for him to dance to!

Day 2: Virginia Beach

Virginia Beach is only about 45-minutes away from Williamsburg. However, if you leave during rush hour it could take you several hours! We decided on our second day to do a beach trip. We left Williamsburg around 10am to avoid bridge/tunnel traffic. We spent most of the day at the beach and Aiden didn’t want to leave! When we were done at the beach we grabbed dinner at our favorite pizza place Shorebreak. It was so good to get back here and made me realize how much I miss the pizza!

Day 3: Busch Gardens Williamsburg

During September Busch Gardens isn’t open everyday so we kept our Saturday open for Busch Gardens Williamsburg. We purchased our tickets online which helped save a bit of money and found an online package that upgraded our parking to priority parking. We got there as it opened and had instant access to the park.

When we arrived we went right to the height check station. Here, Aiden was measured and he received a red wristband to indicate his height range. This made things so much easier when we went to rides. We knew exactly what he could ride and didn’t unnecessarily wait in lines or be turned away at the last minute. We also didn’t inconvenience other people by having to wait to be checked by the attendant. I definitely recommend taking advantage of the height check stations.

Next, we visited the Sesame Street Forest of Fun. Aiden was tall enough to ride everything and it was a great introduction to theme park rides. He rode Grover’s Alpine Express, his first real roller coaster. He loved it so much we rode it three times. We met all of Aiden’s favorite Sesame Street characters before leaving for the other areas of the park.

There was something to do in each section of the park which was great. There were even some rides that were for little kids only that Aiden was brave enough to ride himself. We were so proud!

Overall, our weekend in Williamsburg was great. I could see adding a couple of more days in the future to do some of the other historic areas, but three days really worked well for us this time!

Have you been for a weekend in Williamsburg with your children? What things did you do? I would love to hear in the comments.

Share this:

Follow:

Melissa

Hi, I’m Melissa! I am a mama to an energetic toddler, a wife to my amazing husband Dan, and I work full-time as a meeting planner. I started this blog because, after having my little guy, I quickly learned that exhaustion and baby brain causes you to forget some of the amazing (sometimes horrible and sometimes wonderful) details related to the first several months of raising a baby. Considering we may have more kids in the future, I want to document everything we do, so we remember what worked the first time around, and hopefully help other first time mamas along the way!